What a difference a week makes! Last Sunday on AM Joy, Roots editor and MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson accused Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam of "arrogance" for refusing to resign. Railed Johnson: "He caused this problem on his own, and the best way to save his party would be for him to leave."
But now that scandals have engulfed Virginia's Democratic Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General, Johnson has changed his tune. Instead, he advises Dems to "back off" any resignation or impeachment talk, because the result could be to elevate a Republican to the governorship. Johnson never acknowledged that a scant week ago, he was part of the liberal chorus calling on Northam to walk the plank.
Note: Johnson says that Democrats shouldn't let Republicans "weaponize your own values against you." What he really means is: Democrats shouldn't live by their professed values if there's a political price to pay for it. Values should only be used as a sword to attack Republicans!
Here was Johnson on Reid's show just six short days ago, accusing Northam of "arrogance" for refusing to resign, and urging him to "leave."
How convenient.
Here's Johnson on Joy Reid's February 9 show:
MSNBC's AM Joy
February 9, 2019
10:40 a.m. EasternJASON JOHNSON: Politically speaking, I'm going to say this, you Joy know this, other people: I'm not a Democrat, right? But I'm going to play one on TV right now. What we're not about to have happen, if you're a smart Democrat, is you are not about to let the Republican party weaponize your own values against you in order to do a power grab in Virginia.
We've got 2020 coming up, there are legislative elections happening in Virginia right now. The Republican Party doesn't care about blackface. They don't care about institutional racism. They don't care about rape culture, they don't care about protecting black women. They will use opportunities like this to do a power grab that they couldn't do in elections.
So Democrats need to back off from any discussions of resignation, any discussions of articles of impeachment, until there's been an actual investigation. Then you make a decision.
